Update from Kola Nut 1.8.7?

[Armelle_Cailliau_Nad]

Hello,

I was wondering if I had missed an update or two from the last one I did (Kola Nut 1.8.7).
My fairphone updater indicates that my OS is up-to-date, but my husband, who uses a different smartphone, has had 2 or 3 updates since my last one…

Or are Fairphone now only focusing on Fairphone2 and abandoning up dates for Fairphone1?

Thanks a lot for your answers!

[Stefan]

Fairphone (Fairphone)

You will have to have some more patience though.

[Armelle_Cailliau_Nad]

I don’t really understand why there won’t be any new major release though…

Is there going to be a new one for FP2? Am I to understand that I have to buy a new smartphone if I’d like to stay updated? How are we going to be able to install the latest app versions, only compatible with the latest Android versions?
How is this sustainable if you only focus on the hardware and not on the software?

“We’re focusing on longevity and repairability to extend the phone’s usable life”, I’m not sure…

[Stefan]

This has been discussed a lot on the forum, so I recommend you to catch up on the issue, for example in this thread:

Hope for future FP1 Android updates

I’ve been to the recent community borrel and I come back with great news. Whilst discussing Fairphone 2 and update policies for the new device, Bas told us that Fairphone is trying to change the update process. They are trying to get licenses from the platform provider to be able to create and ship future Android updates in house. There is already a team of software engineers at Fairphone that assesses what is necessary for such a step. Negotiations seem to be taking place already. There doesn…

@Armelle_Cailliau_Nad

Is there going to be a new one for FP2?

Yes:
https://twitter.com/Fairphone/status/725717534658465792

@Armelle_Cailliau_Nad

How are we going to be able to install the latest app versions, only compatible with the latest Android versions?

How many apps do you know of, that don’t run under Android Kitkat 4.4?

@Armelle_Cailliau_Nad

if you only focus

It seems that you mean Fairphone by saying “you”. This forum is a community forum. The Fairphone team can’t read all posts so it’s unlikely that your opinion reaches them, if you post here. The community (e.g. you and me) uses the forum to discuss amongst each other.

[Armelle_Cailliau_Nad]

Thanks a lot for your quick answer!
I don’t come to the forum very often, and I don’t know much about OSes, softwares or hardwares, I read some of the links you kindly indicated and understood that Android isn’t open and free, that’s right?
That’s what I thought, but apparently, Fairphone don’t have the license for it anymore?

I’m just worried about the future of my Fairphone1… I had a really old Samsung before I bought my Fairphone1 and I remember that I kept having messages like "You can’t install this app because your phone/OS/whatever…isn’t new enough"
I hoped this would not happen with Fairphones (since they really highlighted the “longevity” and “sustainability”), and I still hope it won’t…

[Stefan]

Android itself is open source, but the drivers for the Fairphone 1 chipset aren’t. Fairphone managed to obtain the closed source drivers from the chipset manufacturer Mediatek, but it only allows them to update to Android 4.4. Mediatek never released Android 5 drivers for the chipset used in the Fairphone 1.

In conclusion, it wasn’t Fairphone’s best bet to go for a Mediatek chipset for their first Fairphones, but they learned from the mistake and that’s why the Fairphone 2 has a Qualcomm chipset.

[jftr]

Sign up to test the pre-release of Android Kitkat 4.4 for Fairphone 1:
https://forum.fairphone.com/t/call-for-testers-of-android-4-4alpha-for-fairphone-1/19411

[saljut7]

Hi Stefan

is

Update from Kola Nut 1.8.7?

Android itself is open source, but the drivers for the Fairphone 1 chipset aren’t. Fairphone managed to obtain the closed source drivers from the chipset manufacturer Mediatek, but it only allows them to update to Android 4.4. Mediatek never released Android 5 drivers for the chipset used in the Fairphone 1. In conclusion, it wasn’t Fairphone’s best bet to go for a Mediatek chipset for their first Fairphones, but they learned from the mistake and that’s why the Fairphone 2 has a Qualcomm chipse…

the reason why there won’t be a Fairphone Open for FP1?

I wanted to ask within the thread but it is closed.

Best regards
sj7

[Stefan]

FP1 software is as open as Fairphone Open for FP2 by default because Google Apps are not preinstalled.

FP2 comes preinstalled with Google Apps and therefore you need to open it with Fairphone Open. FP1 is configured the other way round, so there is no need for a Fairphone Open for FP1.

Fairphone 2 also contains closed source drivers from Qualcomm, so that is the same as with Mediatek drivers for FP1.

Edit: Moved our posts here.